Although the Pope's private views are known to be very different, in its official policy the Vatican continues to display the same old naivety and self-deceit about the threat Muslim immigration poses to Europe.

Today, the Pope hosts an interfaith dialogue "for peace" in Assisi.

Roughly 200 spiritual leaders are expected to take part in the Assisi event. Christians are scheduled to include Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, leader of the Anglican Communion; and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, “first among equals” in the Orthodox world. Leaders from the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Zoroastrian, Confucian, Baha’i and Taoist traditions will participate, along with indigenous religions from Africa, Latin America and Asia.

The Muslims include Prince Ghazi Bin Talal of Jordan, who will sit next to Benedict at lunch. Ghazi is a leader in interfaith dialogue, and was among the signatories to a letter from Muslim leaders to Benedict after his controversial September 2006 speech in Regensburg, Germany, which some took as linking the Prophet Muhammad with violence.

Al-Azhar university, the leading religious authority within Sunni Islam (the overwhelmingly dominant strain of Islam in the world), has declined to attend however. It is still miffed by the Pope having had the audacity to speak out about the murder of Christian Copts in Egypt last year.

In a signal of ongoing challenges in the Catholic/Muslim relationship, the Al-Azhar University and Mosque complex in Cairo, Egypt, sometimes referred to as “the Vatican of the Sunni world,” has reportedly declined to send a representative. Al-Azhar announced in January that it was breaking off dialogue with the Vatican after a speech in which Benedict called for greater protection for Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority, which some saw as interference in the country’s internal affairs.

Complaining about the murder of Christians is interference in the country's internal affairs! That really ought to be a sign to the Vatican that this whole interfaith dialogue thing isn't going to work out. But no. It seems the Vatican now officially regards mass Muslim immigration into Europe as a good thing - seeing it as "An Opportunity For The "New Evangelisation". De-Evangelisation followed by Mohammedanisation is much more likely.